PABLO SIQUIER
[1961, Argentina]
Part of a generation of artists who emerged in Buenos Aires at the end of the Argentine military dictatorship, Pablo Siquier’s work resists historical context and interpretation. His abstract black and white canvases and drawings remain silent, even as they evoke the rhythms of the city and subtly reference architectural ornament. In his work, Siquier explores the tensions between perfect and imperfect media: after years of precise schematic drawings with rulers and compasses, he uses computer software to design his intricate compositions. Once they are designed, he creates them on paper or canvases with charcoal or paint; they are at once hand-made and machine-influenced.
In the early 1980s, Siquier studied for three years at the Escuela de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredón. His work from 1985-1989 used vibrant colors to develop dynamic relationships between an object in the foreground and the background plane or horizon line. During the late 1980s, he co-founded the informal artist collective Grupo de la X, which was connected to Madí artist Enio Iommi and his students. From 1989-1993, he began to restrict his palette, and he developed geometricized shapes inspired by architectural motifs and ornaments. In 1993, he abandoned color and began a series of abstract paintings and drawings in black and white. Since 2005, Siquier has been working on the walls of galleries and museums, making large-scale wall drawings and installations. He has created murals at the Faena Group Building (Los Molinos) in Buenos Aires and at the Carlos Pellegrini subway station in Buenos Aires.
Siquier lives and works in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Siquier’s works have been shown in selected exhibitions, including the Bienal de Cuenca, Ecuador (1991); Bienal de La Habana, Havana, Cuba (2006);
Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil (2004); Bienal do Mercosul, Porto Alegre, Brazil (1997, 1999); Beuys y más allá,Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina (with exhibition catalogue) (2010); Murales e instalaciones, Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2012); Painting Zero Degree, Independent Curators International, New York City, New York, USA, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA and Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA (2000), St. Mary’s University Art Gallery, Halifax, Canada, and University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Maryland (2001), Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Ohio, USA and Fuller Museum of Art, Brockton, Massachusetts, USA (2002); Contrabandistas de imágenes, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC), Santiago, Chile (2005); Congreso de Tucumán: 200 años de arte argentine, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Rosario (MACRO), Argentina (2016); Últimas Tendencias en la Colección del Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires (MAMBA), Argentina (2002); Mesótica, Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo (MADC), San José, Costa Rica (1995); F(r)icciones: Versiones del Sur, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS) Madrid, Spain (2000); Pablo Siquier, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS), Madrid, Spain (2005); Pablo Siquier, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina (1997); and Slow Paintings, Museum Morsbroich, Leverksusen, Germany (2009).
Siquier’s works are represented in several major collections including the Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas, USA; Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Rosario (MACRO), Argentina; Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), Argentina; Museo Moderno, Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS), Madrid, Spain.
2023
Pablo Siqiuer: Obsceno, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Buenos Aires, Argentina
2018
Galerie Xippas, Montevideo, Uruguay, ESTE Arte
2017
Pablo Siquier: Bruit, Galerie Xippas, Paris, France
2016
Pablo Siquier: Hostile, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA
2015
Pablo Siquier: Confort Psíquico, Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2013
Structure, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA
Contracture, Alejandra von Hartz Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
Contratura, Baró Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil
2012
Murales e instalaciones, Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2010
Museo Pedro de Osma, Lima, Peru
2009
Pablo Siquier, Baró Cruz Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil
2008
Pablo Siquier, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA
Pablo Siquier: New Works, Alejandra von Hartz Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
2007
Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2005
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Palacio Velazquez, Madrid, Spain
2003
Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2001
Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA
Fondo Nacional de las Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina
1997
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1996
Ramis Barquet Gallery, Monterrey, Mexico
1995
Modelos concretos, Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina
1994
International Art Fair, Ruth Benzacar Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1993
Jacobo Karpio Gallery, San José de Costa Rica
1992
Instituto de Cooperación Iberoamericana, Buenos Aires, Argentina
1991
Línea Gallery, Harrods en el Arte, Buenos Aires, Sala Amadís, Madrid, Spain
Pablo Siquier: Instalación, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Córdoba, Spain
Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX, USA
Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Rosario (MACRO), Argentina
Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), Argentina
Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires (MAMBA), Argentina
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), TX, USA
The SPACE Collection, Irvine, CA
Zabludowicz Collection London, UK